California Boulevard revisited..

After my fabulous dining experience at California boulevard Rajouri garden, I decided to explore their outlet in the millennium city. Located conveniently close to Iffco metro station, this place just can’t be missed. As I entered, I couldn’t help but notice the bright red tram which also doubles as a bar. They received their liquor license recently, which reflected in the footfall. The ambience boasts of high backed leather chairs, and sofas. A bigger walk of fame, those LCD screens dishing out trivia, were the welcome features from its sister branch at Rajouri garden. For a burst of glitz and glamour there’s also the Harley Davidson, parked at the entrance as a beacon for visitors smitten with all things Californian.

The evening commenced with “old bastard” that helped us kick-start the meal with a punch. The Brazilian national drink caprioska came next and the addition of fresh cucumber slices elevated the flavours of this refreshing cocktail.
Chef Karen has successfully managed to engineer a curiosity rousing menu which encompasses dishes from various parts of the world. The best way to savour these global delicacies is by trying the world on a platter. We started with the Peri Peri crispy chicken from Portugal that knocks you off with its flavour. The chipotle mayo dip balances the tender juicy chicken cooked in fiery red chilli sauce. The national dish of Britain was devoured next.  Soft and flaky Beer Batter Fish served with good old homemade tartare spells comfort food. We moved on to the Grilled Lamb Skewers from Italy next. The lamb was succulent and bursting with flavours. We trailed along on our global tryst and encountered Sushi Rolls .The sweetness of crab, saltiness of soya, pungent wasabi and pickled ginger complemented each other wonderfully. The platter ended on a Chinese note. The golden brown Spring Rolls stuffed with prawns and shitake mushrooms were delightfully crispy. I was tempted to try Peanut Butter Paneer which sounded intriguing but sadly didn’t taste anything out of the ordinary. The TCB Greek Vegetarian Mousakka, however, was layers of ecstasy. The spongy eggplant, smothered in light tomato sauce and enveloped in the right amount of cheese is highly recommended.

My successful experiment with Kulfi gazak the last time around made me try it again, and reinforced my belief in the awesomeness of this dessert.  FlambĂ© bailey’s gulabjamun  stole  the show again. The gulab jamun has an interesting gulkand filling, and the addition of baileys’ helps balance the sweetness. It was served with coffee cream which was light and went with the rich, bailey flavoured gulab jamun. I loved this combination. The flambĂ© did succeed in sizzling it up visually.

California boulevard is a blow to doubting Thomases, those who feel that a restaurant’s culinary assertiveness dips when it opens new branches. There’s no factory churned uniformly tasting fare here, instead what you get is more creativity, risks and successful experimentations that will very soon carve a niche for itself on the foodie trail of Gurgaon.

Comments